Offshore A-Z is a digital repository of companies operating across major tax havens. Offshore A-Z exploits the inscrutability of such companies to speculate on their possible nature and intent. Each company listed on here is real, but the information surrounding these consist of both actual records, obtained by dmstfctn, and speculative images and mission statements, generated by algorithms.

Tax havens, or secrecy jurisdictions, employ laws and corporate regulations different from those of most jurisdictions, using secrecy as a prime tool. Furthermore, the agents operating offshore on behalf of clients elsewhere have been observed by dmstfctn to willfully introduce mistakes in the records held on the companies they help forming. (Offshore Investigation Vehicle)

When offshore companies are but a bundle of papers held in private storages, these practices contribute to a number of possible configurations of any given offshore company, whose records are at once factually correct and conveniently flawed.

Offshore A-Z plays with the idea that truth is not one nor static, and that it does not need to be upheld equally at all times or in all fora.

Obtaining the data

The data contained within Offshore A-Z comes from a number of sources. Prior to the Offshore Leaks, the snippets of information available on offshore companies were largely confined to the outdated online registrars kept by tax havens, as an empty gesture towards transparency. Employing data scraping techniques, dmstfctn extracted records on hundreds of thousands of companies appearing in a number of such registrars.

Yielding varying amounts of information, and naturally full of gaps - sometimes full company details and descriptions, sometimes little more than a name - the records were cross referenced with data from the ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks as well as Financial Secrecy Index scores from the Tax Justice Network, and compiled into a single searchable database.

Training the algorithms

Algorithms were then trained to fill in the gaps in information. Using keywords from the company’s records as a trigger, the algorithms associate images with each nondescript company and complete missing fields by guessing possible incorporation dates or by generating corporate mission statement via a simple neural network. The coherency and accuracy of the neural network is directly undermined by the opaque source material, or incomplete input records. Finally, companies previously named in the Offshore Leaks ( for example) are hyperlinked to the relevant entry on the ICIJ database, allowing user to investigate further.

Compiling the template

The resulting information is autonomously built into a Web 2.0 page, employing a visual grammar similar to that used by existing registrars of companies. However, under intense scrutiny, the template mealts away revealing warm hues and floating forms.

This cycle of actions is repeated for each unreleased company found in the database and publicly announced by a Twitter bot.

Zooming in

Among the companies listed on the Offshore A-Z, a few appearing to be embedded in complex offshore vehicles were further investigated, resulting in three stories focusing on the funding behind Leave.EU, the corporate tax-avoidance of Barclays and the colonial origins of HSBC.

Offshore A-Z is a project by dmstfctn.

Company Name Leaked Registered Country
A C P ASSOCIATES LIMITED 12-10-1992
BB
A CHIP HOLDING LIMITED 19-07-2012
HK
A COUNTRY TOUCH NV 26-08-1995
AW
A D GULAB (GRAND CAYMAN) 02-06-1951
KY
A D S (INTERNATIONAL) LIMITED 18-03-1969
HK
A DEUX A COMPUTER LIMITED 27-05-2009
CY
A F LIMITED 25-08-1978
BM
A F PORTFOLIO LIMITED 31-03-1981
BM
A FASHION HOUSE LTD. 19-11-1907
KY
A FISH COMPANY LIMITED 11-12-1972
KY
A G A TRADING LTD 15-06-2010
CY
A G AGENCIES LIMITED 27-08-1986
BB
A G GENERAL MARKETING BUSINESS DIRECTORIES SERVICES (GMBDS) LTD 09-03-2010
CY
A GIFT FOR YOU 15-02-1995
AW
A GIFT FOR YOU 01-06-2000
AW
A GIFT FOR YOU TOO 08-01-2001
AW
A GRADE TECHNOLOGY LIMITED 15-03-2007
HK
A HAPPY HOUSE 03-05-2009
AW
A I AIRCONDITIONING SERVICES 30-06-1989
AW
A I GREEN IRRIGATION & ENGINEERING LIMITED 03-08-2001
HK
A J W CONSTRUCTION LTD. 20-10-2003
BM
A J W CONSTRUCTION LTD. 20-10-2003
BM
A K INDUSTRIAL COMPANY LIMITED 08-07-1977
HK
A K JENSEN GROUP, LIMITED 13-11-2003
BM
A K JENSEN GROUP, LIMITED 13-11-2003
BM
A KING RESTAURANT LIMITED 01-08-1969
HK
A L COMPANY LIMITED 10-01-1969
HK
A LA BRIOCHE LIMITEE 07-07-1976
MU
A LACUNA LTD 07-07-2009
CY
A LTD. 25-04-1887
KY
A M B (ASIA) LIMITED 12-11-1996
HK
A M INTERNATIONAL LTD. 05-08-1987
BM
A M MEDICAL FABRICS LIMITED 11-04-1996
HK
A M X MANUFACTURING LIMITED 21-09-1979
HK
A N B LTD. 14-09-1934
KY
A N K 18-01-1952
CY
A N M IMPORTS 01-07-2002
AW
A NEW GENERATION CONTRACTORS 05-02-2007
AW
A ONE SOUND SOLUTIONS 31-01-2013
AW
A P COMERCIAL, C. X A. 20-08-1987
DO
A P F INTERNATIONAL LIMITED 01-08-1980
HK
A P INTERLINK LIMITED 25-03-1993
HK
A P INTERNATIONAL LIMITED 02-11-2004
BM
A P RESOURCES LIMITED 30-09-1994
BM
A PLUS CONSTRUCTION LTD. 28-01-2010
BM
A PUB LIMITED 03-05-1999
HK
A Q L MANUFACTURING (H.K.) LIMITED 05-02-1970
HK
A R L AERONAUTICAL RESOURCES LIMITED 20-01-2010
CY
A REIR A LAS OCHO 30-06-1985
DO
A ROEST DIENSTVERLENING 03-07-2011
AW